Lyrics: William Featherston, 1864.

Music: Adoniram Gordon, 1876.

Theme: The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. John 21:17

Center for Church Music: “My Jesus, I Love Thee” was written by a sixteen year old boy, William Ralph Featherston, at the time of his conversion to Jesus Christ. He sent a copy to his aunt who encouraged him to have it published. It appeared anonymously in The London Hymn Book in 1864. . . . William wrote no other hymns that we know of and his brief life ended just before his twenty-seventh birthday.

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou has first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

There are a few hymns that I find myself singing while in prayer without even thinking about it: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, Oh, How I Love Jesus, How Great Thou Art, and this one, My Jesus, I Love Thee. I think these three, and probably a few others that I’m not thinking of, are just spontaneously prayerful hymns. They express the the thoughts of my soul, and I sing them to the Lord without prompting, unless it’s the prompting of the Holy Spirit. What songs do you sing to the Lord when you’re alone with Him?